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Airlines, led by low-cost carrier AirTran Airways, are doing a better job of getting passengers to their destinations on time, with their bags, and with fewer complaints, private researchers who have analyzed federal data on airline performance said this week.

It was the second year in a row that AirTran topped the rankings of the nation’s 15 largest airlines included in the annual report.

Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Airways also repeated their performance from the previous year, ranking second and third, respectively.

source: Dailymail.co.uk

Southwest Airlines won U.S. government approval on Tuesday buy out AirTran Holdings Inc in a deal that will add East Coast muscle to Southwest’s operations as it takes on bigger rivals.

Antitrust enforcers at the ‘Justice Department’ signed off on the $1.04 billion deal with no conditions, concluding it would not hurt competition or raise fares.

“‘The merged firm will be able to offer new service on routes that neither serves today,'” the agency said in a statement.

source: Reuters

Southwest Airlines announced today that it will purchase AirTran Holdings in a $1.42-billion deal that will expand the nation’s largest low-cost airline to 37 new cities.

The merger, if approved by regulators, would create an airline with 685 aircraft that will serve about 100 million passengers annually in nearly 100 airports. The company will remain headquartered in Dallas and keep the Southwest name.

Southwest, the largest airline based on domestic passenger load, has grown quickly since it was founded in 1971, capitalizing on no-frills service, low fares, no first-class seating and no baggage fees.

source: Los Angeles Times

Orlando’s AirTran Holdings Inc. has signed a three-year contract extension with the Coca-Cola Co. to continue serving the beverage giant’s soft drinks onboard AirTran Airways flights.

The two companies have been in business together since 1993. Coke is based in Atlanta, home to AirTran’s hub and where the low-cost carrier routes more than two-thirds of its flights.

source: Orlando Sentinel

AirTran is scheduled to begin service June 7, joining JetBlue in offering low-cost flights to and from Portland International Jetport.

AirTran, based in Orlando, Fla., plans to offer three round trips a day to its Northeast hub in Baltimore, along with a Saturdays-only nonstop flight to and from Orlando.

source: Seacoast online

AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings,  today reported record traffic results for the full year 2006 as well as December 2006 and the Fourth Quarter. The airline reported that revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and passengers enplaned represent company records for December and the quarter, while available seat miles (ASMs) represent an all-time record for December and the quarter.

For the year, AirTran Airways traffic grew 22.4 percent on a capacity increase of 23.7 percent, and the load factor was 72.8 percent. The airline has enplaned a record number of passengers with 20,051,219 boardings this year, an increase of 20.5 percent from 2005.

source: PR Newswire

AirTran Airways reported today its November revenue passenger miles (RPMs), available seat miles (ASMs), and passengers enplaned all represent company records for the month.

AirTran Airways’ traffic, measured by revenue passenger miles (RPMs), grew by 15.4 percent, to over 1.1 billion RPMs, on an increase of 19.1 percent in capacity, based on available seat miles (ASMs). November’s load factor was 69.2 percent. The airline enplaned more than 1.6 million passengers in the month of November, a 14.5 percent increase from November 2005.

source: PR Newswire

Discount airline AirTran passed on Charleston as a new destination city in favor of Phoenix, Arizona, and that means prices to fly out of Charleston will remain high.

The Charleston Aviation Authority says its because people are simply willing to pay more to fly out of here. But, if a discount airline does agree to come into our market, it will likely drive down prices for the major airlines because of competition.

source: live5news.com

AirTran Airways is expected to announce today that it will grow its route map to Phoenix, the result of the Orlando-based carrier’s recent online survey that asked consumers where they want AirTran to fly next.

The new service between Atlanta and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will begin on Feb. 15.

“We are excited to expand to Phoenix and bring our growing route network to the Southwestern United States,” said Kevin Healy, vice president of planning for AirTran Airways.

source: Orlando Sentinel

The new partnership between the two carriers, which is expected to drive incremental revenue and new customers to both AirTran Airways and Frontier, consists of three key components which will allow customers to easily book tickets to over 80 destinations from one another’s sites.

source: Earthtimes.org